If Kevin Correia's last game with the Pirates was Tuesday night, his tenure ended as it began — with a win.

Correia (12-11) held the Atlanta Braves to one run and six hits through 6 2⁄3 innings while his teammates backed him up with solid run support — including a two-run homer from Garrett Jones — in the Pirates' 5-1 victory.

The Bucs' 79 victories are the most in a season since the “Freak Show” team won 79 in 1997.

The Bucs finish the 2012 schedule Wednesday afternoon, with right-hander A.J. Burnett (16-9) facing right-hander Ben Sheets (4-4), who will make his 250th and final career start before retiring.

Correia's 12th win of the season tied a career high set with the Padres in 2009 and matched last year, his first with the Pirates. The 31-year-old right-hander signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Pirates prior to the 2011 season, and he finished with 12-11 records both years.

Correia is not expected to return to the Pirates in 2013, although manager Clint Hurdle has not ruled out the possibility.

“It's huge (to end on a good note),” Correia said. “When you go into the offseason on a bad one you can't stop thinking about it for weeks and weeks, so it's nice just to rest your mind a little bit going into the offseason.”

The Pirates took a first-inning lead when Starling Marte hit a leadoff double off right-hander Tommy Hanson (13-10), then scored when Andrew McCutchen grounded out two batters later. Marte went 3 for 5.

“His at-bats have been cleaner,” Hurdle said of Marte. “He's been seeing the ball better, not as many chases down, stayed on a couple breaking balls and hit them well. … It's always fun to watch a young man gain some confidence in this game.”

The Bucs added another run when Clint Barmes hit a two-out, RBI single in the second.

Correia gave up just one single through the first three innings before former Pirates first baseman Lyle Overbay, as well as third baseman Juan Francisco, doubled to left field in the fourth to cut the Pirates' lead in half.

Marte led off the fifth with a single and scored on Alex Presley's double.

Jones hit a one-out home run, his career-best 27th, to make it 5-1.

The Pirates have 170 home runs this season, one shy of tying the club record set in 1999. It was also Jones' 45th career home run at PNC Park, equaling Brian Giles for third most in the park's history.

Eric Hinske doubled in the seventh when the ball bounced off McCutchen's glove in center field. Presley threw to Josh Harrison, who relayed it to catcher Michael McKenry along the third base line. McKenry tagged out a leaping Reed Johnson to end the inning.

Karen Price is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-320-7980 or kprice@tribweb.com.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.